AL.com’s 150 years, 150 moments of college football: Part 11 (50-41)

(Editor’s note: This is the 11th in a series of 15 stories highlighting the 150 greatest moments in the history of college football in the state of Alabama).

The history of college football in the state of Alabama doesn’t quite go back 150 years, but we’ve certainly had our moments in the 13 decades since our universities first formed teams in the 1890s.

As college football celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, we are counting down the greatest moments in the sport’s history in Alabama. Not all these moments took place within our borders, but they all involved our teams.

UAB football enjoyed modest success in its first 24 years, posting a handful of winning records and even playing in a bowl game in 2005 under Watson Brown. The program bottomed out after Watson’s departure, however, with seven consecutive losing seasons from 2007-13. Nevertheless, first-year coach Bill Clark led the Blazers to a 6-6 record in his debut in 2014. But before UAB could even accept a bowl invitation, the school’s administration made the shocking decision to disband the program in early December 2014, citing revenue concerns. The story captured the national imagination, as it had been more than 20 years since an FBS program had shut down. Players, students and fans protested the decision, and after a fundraising drive, school president Ray Watts announced the Blazers would return in 2017.

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Mark Almond/AL.com

49. The resurrection of UAB football (2015-17)

UAB’s official dormancy lasted only around six months, as the announcement the program would return came on June 1, 2015. Head coach Bill Clark elected to stay on with the Blazers, which went a long way toward guaranteeing eventual success when the program returned. The school built a new football operations building and practice facility, and players were granted an extra year of eligibility — in effect, a second redshirt — as an incentive for signing with UAB. The Blazers officially returned on Sept. 2, 2017, beating Alabama A&M 38-7 before a UAB record 45,212 fans at Legion Field. UAB has been a consistent winner since its return, going 8-5 in 2017, 11-3 and winning the Conference USA title in 2018 and 6-2 as of this writing in 2019. In addition, the city of Birmingham will open the new Protective Stadium near the UAB campus downtown in 2021.

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Vasha Hunt/AL.com

48. Alabama crushes Notre Dame for national title (2013)

The Fighting Irish were the Crimson Tide’s bugaboo in the 1960s and 1970s, beating them on the field in back-to-back New Year’s Day bowl games in 1973 and 1974 and finishing ahead of them in the final polls in controversial fashion both 1966 and 1977. Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant famously never beat Notre Dame, going 0-4 in two bowl games and a pair of regular season meetings. But the Crimson Tide made up for years of frustration in the 2013 BCS national championship team, romping to a 42-14 victory at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. Eddie Lacy ran for two touchdowns and AJ McCarron threw for two as the Crimson Tide rolled up 529 yards of offense. The national title was Alabama’s second straight and third in four years. The game also became famous for another reason, ABC broadcaster Brent Musburger’s bizarre on-air fixation on McCarron’s then-girlfriend (and now wife), former Miss Alabama USA Katherine Webb.

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Craig Ruttle/Associated Press

47. Cam Newton wins the Heisman in a landslide (2010)

Newton was engulfed in controversy for off-field reasons in 2010, but his on-field play left no doubt he was the most outstanding player in college football. In his first season after transferring from Blinn (Texas) Junior College, Newton led Auburn to a perfect record and its first national championship in more than 50 years. He passed for 2,854 yards and 30 touchdowns and ran for 1,473 yards and 20 scores. When it came time to vote for the Heisman Trophy, Newton won in a landslide. His point total of 2,263 was more than double second-place finisher Andrew Luck. In fact, it was more than Luck and third-place finisher LaMichael James combined. Newton’s 729 first-place votes were the fourth-most ever at the time (and remain sixth), while his first-place-vote percentage of 81.55 is also sixth-best ever. Newton’s Heisman was the third in Auburn history, after Pat Sullivan (1971) and Bo Jackson (1985), and was the second straight won by an in-state player after Alabama’s Mark Ingram won in 2009.

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Ed Jones/Birmingham News file

46. Shug Jordan retires, replaced by Doug Barfield (1975)

Auburn had enjoyed a bounceback season in 1974, going 10-2 and finishing in the Top 10 nationally after a 6-6 1973 campaign. Longtime coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan elected to retire that offseason, but did not do so immediately, instead choosing to coach one more year. Unfortunately, Jordan was not able to out on top, as the Tigers went 3-6-2, their first losing record since 1966. The man selected to replace Jordan, offensive coordinator Doug Barfield, fared no better. Auburn went 27-27-1 in five seasons under Barfield, never reaching a bowl game. In addition, the 1979 team (which went 8-3) was banned from the postseason due to NCAA sanctions, which included promises of cars and cash to recruits (neither Barfield nor Jordan were named in any of the allegations). In 1980, after a 5-6 record than included an 0-6 SEC mark — including a fifth straight loss to Alabama — Barfield resigned and was replaced by Pat Dye. Barfield never returned to college coaching, instead coaching in high school for many years and later working as an executive with the Alabama High School Athletic Association. Jordan died at age 69 in 1980 after battling leukemia.

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Birmingham News file photo

45. Auburn’s unlikely undefeated season (1993)

Auburn football was in a bad place in 1993. Pat Dye had resigned under pressure following 11 seasons, the last two in which the Tigers finished with a losing record. Alabama was the reigning national champion, and had beaten Auburn 17-0 in the previous year’s Iron Bowl. In August, Auburn was hit with NCAA sanctions stemming from the Dye era, resulting in a two-year postseason ban, a one-year television ban and a reduction in scholarships. Into this breach stepped Terry Bowden, the son of a legend, who had had a good six-year run at Samford (highlighted by an NCAA Division I-AA semifinal appearance in 1991). Nevertheless, the 1993 Tigers started winning and never stopped. They entered the national rankings after a 3-0 start, and later stunned No. 4 Florida 38-35 in Auburn in mid-October. Auburn was 10-0 and ranked No. 6 by the time it faced Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 20. The Tigers won 22-14 in comeback fashion, with back-up quarterback Patrick Nix (in the game after starter Stan White was injured) throwing a key fourth-down touchdown pass to Frank Sanders late in the game. Ineligible for the SEC championship or a bowl game, Auburn finished 11-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country.

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Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

44. Alabama tops Washington in historic Rose Bowl (1926)

If there is one game credited with putting southern college football on the map, it is Alabama’s 20-19 victory over Washington in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 1926. Third-year coach Wallace Wade’s Crimson Tide had rolled to a 9-0 record behind such stars as halfback Johnny Mack Brown and quarterback Allison “Pooley” Hubert. Alabama had allowed just seven points all season, beating LSU 42-0, Georgia Tech 7-0, Florida 34-0 and Georgia 27-0 (Birmingham-Southern, of all team, had managed to score against the Crimson Tide, but had lost 50-7). The Rose Bowl was then the only postseason bowl game in the sport, and Alabama was invited to Pasadena after several schools — including Yale and Illinois — had turned down the opportunity. The Crimson Tide was viewed as little more than a sacrificial lamb for Pacific Coast Conference champions Washington, which had scored 461 points in 11 games (including victories of 108-0, 59-0, 56-0, 64-2 and 80-7) and featured All-America halfback George “Wildcat” Wilson. Washington led 12-0 at halftime, but Alabama stormed back in the second half. Hubert scored on 1 yard-run and Brown caught two long touchdown passes as the Crimson Tide rallied for a 20-19 victory. Alabama returned to the Rose Bowl for the 1927, 1931, 1935, 1938 and 1946 games, winning three of those, losing once and tying another.

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Birmingham News file

43. Resumption of hostilities in Iron Bowl (1948)

The reasons Alabama and Auburn stopped playing from in football from 1908-47 are legion, and with nearly all of those who were around at the time long dead, the truth of the story is probably lost to history. But the rivalry finally resumed in 1948 after the state legislature threatened both schools with the loss of funding if they did not play in football. Though a home-and-home arrangement was at least discussed according to contemporary reports, the two schools settled on Birmingham’s Legion Field for the first Alabama-Auburn football game in 40 years on Dec. 4, 1948. To signify the peaceful resumption of the rivalry, the two schools' student body presidents literally buried a hatchet the day before the game at Birmingham's Woodrow Wilson Park. Alabama entered the game at 5-4-1, while Auburn was 1-7-1. Predictably, the Crimson Tide won 55-0 behind three touchdowns passing and one rushing from Ed Salem. The teams would continue to meet at Legion Field each season until 1989, when the game was played at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time (that year also featured the end of the 50/50 ticket split that had marked the Alabama-Auburn game as a true “neutral site” rivalry). At some point in the 1960s, the name “Iron Bowl” was adopted, a moniker co-opted from a popular motorcycle racing series that held been held in Birmingham since the 1930s. The Iron Bowl would move on-campus permanently in 2000, when Alabama’s contract with the city of Birmingham expired and allowed the game to be played at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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Hal Yeager/Birmingham News file

42. Alabama throttles Florida in SEC title game (2009)

There were many indications that Alabama was “back” in the early days of the Nick Saban era, but the definitive statement came on Dec. 5 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. On that day, No. 2 Alabama pummeled top-ranked and reigning national champion Florida 32-13 in the SEC championship game. The Crimson Tide not only got revenge for a 31-20 loss to the Gators in the previous year’s title game, but also punched their ticket for a shot at their first national championship in 17 years. Eventual Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram staked Alabama to a 19-13 halftime lead with a pair of touchdown runs, but the second half belonged to the Crimson Tide. Greg McElroy hit Colin Peek on a 17-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, then Ingram punctuated the victory with a 1-yard score in the final period. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman winner and then the face of college football, was famously left weeping on the sideline. A month later, Alabama topped Texas 37-21 in the BCS title game in Pasadena, finishing a perfect 14-0 and securing its first national championship since 1992 and the first of four under Saban in the next nine years.

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Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP

41. Auburn beats two No. 1 teams in three weeks (2017)

No team had ever beaten two teams ranked No. 1 in the same season until Auburn did so in a three-week period in 2017. The Tigers hammered top-ranked Georgia 40-17 on Nov. 11 in Auburn, with Jarrett Stidham throwing three touchdown passes and Kerryon Johnson rushing for 167 yards. Alabama assumed the No. 1 spot after Georgia’s loss, but also fell victim to Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium. On Nov. 25, the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide 26-14 behind another big day from Johnson, who ran for a touchdown and threw for another. It was the first time Auburn had beaten Alabama by more than 10 points since 1969. The twin victories over top-ranked teams vaulted Auburn at least temporarily into the national championship race despite early-season losses to Clemson and LSU. The Tigers were ranked No. 2 nationally heading into the SEC championship game, where they again faced Georgia. This time, the Bulldogs pulled off a 28-7 victory behind two touchdown passes by Jake Fromm. Johnson, slowed by a shoulder injury suffered against Alabama, managed just 44 yards on 13 carries. Auburn slipped from the College Football Playoff to the Peach Bowl, where they lost 34-27 to Central Florida to finish a disappointing 10-4. Even more galling, Alabama and Georgia both made the playoff and ended up meeting for the national championship, with the Crimson Tide winning 26-23 in overtime.